


THE SUN WILL RAISE (and we will try again)

by Shetani_Bonaparte



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Best Friends, Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime, Ryan misses Shane too, Shane centric because I'm a bitch and he's relatable, Shane misses Ryan, The Ghoul Boys (Buzzfeed Unsolved)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:41:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shetani_Bonaparte/pseuds/Shetani_Bonaparte
Summary: On 2023, he had to say goodbye to Unsolved. Ryan hadn't fought with BuzzFeed. He just let them shut the show down. Shane had been the one who argued with their boss about the end of Unsolved, and it was weird, right? Unsolved was Ryan's baby, the thing he was most proud of. And yet...On 2026, another terrible goodbye: Watcher Entertainment had to be put down like you do with an old dog you love. It was the most human thing to do. Shane had felt lost again, and he had clinged to Ryan and Steve, letting go of Lim first.Ryan was the one who made him let go, moving away and all after 2 years after the end of their company together, and keeping concacts became instantly difficult.---After 5 years without any contact, Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara run casually into each other.---I didn't write it to be a shippy thing, but you can think whatever you want about the ending. Also english is not my native language and sorry for eventual grammatical mistakes.---No beta testing, I'll die like the man I am. Feel free to correct me, tho.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	THE SUN WILL RAISE (and we will try again)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't write it to be a shippy thing, but you can think whatever you want about the ending. Also english is not my native language and sorry for eventual grammatical mistakes.  
> No beta testing, I'll die like the man I am. Feel free to correct me, tho.

Shane laughs awkwardly, shaking Ryan's hand and half hugging him.  
Bergara is less bright than he remembered. Maybe it's because they're older, maybe it's because Ryan doesn't really love what he does as a job anymore.  
«So...» tries Shane, but he finds out he doesn't know what to say.  
They always knew what to say around each other. Always. But now they're awkward and distant.  
«Oh, hey, Ry» calls a woman. She's a beautiful black lady and the man smiles at her and kisses her lips.  
«Shane, this is Katie, we engaged some days ago. My love, this is Shane, my old co-worker.»  
Shane doesn't like "this is Shane" and "co-worker". He'd prefer "this is the big guy" and "best friend" instead.  
«Nice to meet you!» smiles Katie and Shane smiles back, shaking her hand politely.  
So. Ryan Bergara engaged with someone who's not Marielle. Shane gets hit by the fact that he doesn't know Ryan at all, now, and he gets hit hard.  
He's not an emotional man, he never was and never will be, but that realization makes him feel a pang of sadness in his chest.  
«What about you, Shane? Any girlfriend?»  
He smiles fondly: «Me and Sara are still together. We married a year and a half ago.»  
Now it's Ryan's turn to realize how much apart they grew over the course of 5 years with no contact.  
«Aw, I'm happy for you, guys!» he smiles, and later that night, he'll pretend to not feel hurt when he'll look up at Shane's Instagram profile and he'll see another person as his best man.  
Katie escuses herself and leaves the two alone.  
«You still have the boots» says Shane, looking at Ryan's feet.  
«You too.»  
Yup, they're both wearing the matching boots. It's bittersweet, because the boots are still in good shape and they still wear them, but neither one of them talks about the "boots brothers" anymore.  
They still remember, though.  
Bittersweetness fills the air.  
Silence.  
Awkward silence.  
Ryan was the kind of person who always speaks to fill the silence, if he's with someone he doesn't feel completely comfortable with. He's not changed, Shane learns it he hard way.  
«So. Wanna go grab a drink? Also did you heard about TJ or the others?»  
«Uhm, no, not really. I lost contact with Steve Lim around- uh, six years ago? And I was never so close to the others, so... they kinda faded of. What about you?»  
«Sometimes I still hear something about Steve, but... not that much anymore. He's a real cocktail maestro, now.»  
«Really?» Shane says in disbelief.  
«I know, right? Apparently he has his own restaurant somewhere in California. We could go visit him, sometimes.»  
«Yeah, it'd be cool!»  
It's an empty promise, that one. Shane knows. They'll lose contacts all over again and probably they'll never see each other again.  
Shane still has Ryan's old number. It doesn't work: Shane had tried to call Bergara for his wedding, but the number isn't active anymore. Shane still keeps it, but he neved tried to contact Ryan on social medias.  
Shane, weirdly enough, is the one who holds onto the things he loves or had loved the most.  
On 2023, he had to say goodbye to Unsolved. Ryan hadn't fought with BuzzFeed. He just let them shut the show down. Shane had been the one who argued with their boss about the end of Unsolved, and it was weird, right? Unsolved was Ryan's baby, the thing he was most proud of. And yet...  
On 2026, another terrible goodbye: Watcher Entertainment had to be put down like you do with an old dog you love. It was the most human thing to do. Shane had felt lost again, and he had clinged to Ryan and Steve, letting go of Lim first.  
Ryan was the one who made him let go, moving away and all after 2 years after the end of their company together, and keeping concacts became instantly difficult.  
And now, after 5 years without even a message, they are here. It's a coincidence.  
"Or maybe it's not" thinks Shane, and since when he saw things like signs of the universe? It was the 10th anniversary of the end of BuzzFeed Unsolved too, dammit! And Unsolved had bought them together in the first place, and now it was kinda bringing them together again, even if it was for a few minutes, or maybe an hour.  
Maybe Shane wants it to be a sign, because he missed Ryan so much that it hurts. Until some weeks ago, he used to think about how much Ryan would like to watch together a particular movie in the theaters, how they used to say "wanna go to the cinema?" and watch together the newest movie, how they used to laugh at stupid things on one of the two's couch, how they used to enter each other's houses unannounced because they always felt at home around each other.  
Shane feels like an idiot, because Ryan clearly doesn't care as much as he doesn't: he's looking some emails on the phone, bored and maybe tired.  
Shane used to know when to make Ryan rest. Bergara always overworked himself, he still does, but now Shane can't tell him "hey, go rest a little, I'll do some of work for you".  
Now Shane feels as if they were back in time, during their first videos together. He especially remember the Gloria Ramirez one - and it says a lot, because he barely remembers his career for BuzzFeed anymore, but... sometimes he still watches some episodes, the few ones he truly remembers, and about them he mostly remembers the funny moments after wrapping up an episode, or the nights in shitty hotels and the pillow talks with a still freaked out Bergara.  
In the toxic woman's episode, they were awkward. Shane was driving, and they both felt nervous around each other, very unsure, and Shane was glad he was driving because he really wouldn't have known what to do with his hands. There was just the two of them, without crew, driving at night, and it felt almost intimate. Shane felt embarrassed and he kept blushing the whole time. He remembers he checked Ryan's out because damn, he was cute - he still is.  
The two never fell in love with each other, but their friendship was the best thing Shane had ever had.  
And now it's all gone.  
Gone.  
They used to match their movements and their poses, because mirroring is a thing, but now Shane stands rigidly and okay, Ryan has his feet directed towards his so he wants to stay, but he's not close, he keeps his distance.  
It hurts.  
Why does it hurt so much now? Yeah, Shane missed Ryan, okay, but now he felt his eyes all watery and shit, he doesn't want to cry. Maybe it's because having Ryan in front of him makes him truly realize how much he missed him. Maybe it's because he and Sara were on the verge of divorce, Ryan once was the closest friend he had and Shane loves when things don't change.  
Seeing how much Bergara has changed too is destabilizing.  
When Ryan fills the silence telling some stupid thing about his own crew - he still is a creative, Shane actually saw some of his new videos, some years ago - Shane feels just like in that car, with their weird 2016 dinamic, and now it's 2033 and they know so much about how they used to be, about their old selves, and it's weird. It's so fucking weird because Shane doesn't know anything about the man he used to know like the back of his hand.  
«...and Arty is here, all grumpy and all, because he never-»  
«Do you think we could go for a walk?» Shane asks suddenly, because it's december, and the night is cold, and he could use an excuse to have watery eyes and the need to cover up his face with a scarf.  
Ryan doesn't need to know that Shane hasn't gotten over their friendship even after all those years.  
«Sure, buddy.»  
Where the fuck is "big guy", huh?  
Damn.  
Shane pays for all the drinks the both of them have consumed during that stupid party and he feels like a fucking... what's the new world the teens use for a simp? Shane doesn't know.  
Once out of the building, Shane takes a deep breath and it's so cold that his eyes waters even more and thank God, Ryan doesn't notice he was already tearing up.  
(To be honest, Ryan noticed, but even now he doesn't say anything because he used to know Madej, and seeing him emotional like that is kinda scaring. That and Ryan doesn't want to cry too.)  
They walk around, Ryan talking about things, Shane listening. Two friendly strangers.  
«Damn, man, it's almost 2 am, I should go back home» yawns Ryan, full ready to watch Shane's Instagram account and feel hurt about not being the fucking best man in that particular photo - I told you, he'll do that.  
«Dude, aren't you like- too drunk to drive? And your girlfriend?»  
«She's already home and- uhm...»  
Well, Ryan _is_ a little too drunk to drive safely. Not wasted, nope, but tipsy and sleepy.  
«I have my fly tomorrow morning» says Shane, «I have to go home- to my parents for Christmas» Shane says, hesitant.  
«And?»  
«I don't know, wanna sleep over? Or- sorry, you could just call an Uber and-»  
«It's fine. Lead the way, Shane.»  
Again, the absence of that fucking "big guy" is hurtful.  
Shane leads him towards his car and Ryan climbs in the passenger seat. Shane's all but tipsy, he feels to awake and nervous and-  
Hm.  
Gloria Ramirez's episode all over again.  
The hotel was a cheap one, but it was clean and pretty. Shane had a room with two single beds, and in one of those two cats were sleeping. The orange one, explains Shane, is Obi II, the white one is Sally.  
«Like the demon?» asks Ryan with a fond smile.  
«Oh, well... she acts like the spawn of Satan, at night...»  
Then, Ryan seems to recall something: «Wait, why aren't we at your place with Sara?»  
«We... uh, we are thinking about divorce» admits Shane.  
«Oh, dude... sorry, I-»  
«It's fine. It's a mutual thing. She truly wants children, I don't. It happens.»  
«Not to make everything about me, but me and Katie aren't really in Love anymore too...»  
«Sucks.»  
Ryan wheezes for the first time since their little reunion, and now he seems bright and warm and alive again.  
«Yeah, it sucks. The engagement was an attempt to... y'know, fix things up.»  
«The cats were the same thing.»  
Shane used to know their hotel routine, and he finds out he still knows it, because he sees Ryan going dramatically lying on his bed and sighing heavily. He then goes to the bathroom with ine of the pijamas Shane offers him, and Shane changes in his own pijama, waiting his friend while scrolling Epiphany - come on, don't tell me you still use Twitter!  
«Sucky horror movie?» asks Shane, like he always did back in the days.  
«What about one of our videos?»  
Another change. Still fill with familiarity and memories, but still... not their usual movie.  
An hour later, they have their beds pushed together and they're barely paying attention to Unsolved. A bowl of poc corn is on Shane's lap - Ryan doesn't ate them anymore, he's on a diet... - and the the tv screen, following a casual playlist on YouTube without a chronological order, shows them the last episode of the last season of the show: The Sally's House Revisited.  
Shane remembers that night. They were completely alone, and they spent and hour talking about what they wanted to do in the future. Ryan said he wanted to marry Mariell, Shane said he wanted to do the same with Sara. Shane asked a little "and...?" and Ryan laughed, saying he wanted to succeed with Watcher Entertainment. They also promised to each other they're going to be each other's best man. That night, Ryan was extremely scared, like the first time, and Shane had to calm him down from a panic attack.  
Madej sighs, and Ryan is snoring at his side. It's almost 5 am, and Shane doesn't sleep.  
At 6 am, the alarm goes off and it wakes Ryan up.  
On the screen, there's the intro of their first video together - the Illuminati one.  
«Goodmorning, big guy.»  
Shane smiles. After a nigh immersed in the past, things seems to be like they used to be.  
They're not, Shane knows.  
«I have to go. You can stay, I'll pay for the morning, Ry.»  
«No, no, I should head home anyway.»  
«Want me to take you home?»  
«I'll take an Uber. I know your weird ass loves spending at least 3 hours into an airport all alone.»  
«Ah, you know me!» Shane laughs. He should've said "you _knew_ me" but hey, Ryan's right.  
Bergara helps Shane with his luggages and the cats, then the younger has to leave, the Uber is waiting for him. Shane writes his number on a piece of paper and hands it to Ryan, who's the one that wanted the thing on a piece of paper in the first place, who puts it in his phone's case.  
«So... see you soon, big guy.»  
«See you soon, little dude.»  
They hug, this time without awkwardness, and the hug tastes like the old times and like the empty promise to be friends again.  
After that, Shane's left alone.  
It's funny how the start on their friendship is on the tv's screen and they just said goodbye.  
Because that's it, a goodbye because Ryan never saves on the phone the numbers he has on piece of papers, it was his way of keeping his personal Life disconnected from his job or from people he doesn't think he'll keep in his Life, and apparently he keeps doing this.  
Shane knews.  
With heavy heart and watery eyes, Shane's leaves the hotel, saying goodbye to his past.

Shane's phone rings two whole months later.  
He doesn't know that number.  
«Hello?» he answers, getting out of the bed.  
He lives alone, now, with the cats. He and Sara are still friends, by the way. It's February, and looking at the calendar he instantly knows that around this hour Ryan's getting married. Shane wasn't invited to the wedding.  
«Hey, big guy, I'm running away from a bride who hates me, wanna go to the cinema?»  
Shane smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> This thing took me a week or so and I'm not sure I totally like it, but here we are...  
> Please, comment! I'm looking forward to read your opinion about this!  
> I hope you'll like it!  
> -  
> Live long and prosper,  
> Logan


End file.
